The increase in communication capacity which is experienced today due to a variety of information technology (IT) services drives efforts to develop technologies that will enable routers and servers to communicate at higher and higher bit rates. As part of these efforts, attempts are being made to define, standardize, and develop technologies for 40 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 100 GbE. Some aspects of such attempts are described in the following publications:
an article entitled “Moving Standards to 100 GbE and Beyond”, by John McDonough, in IEEE Applications & Practice, November 2007, pages 6-9;
an article entitled “A Roadmap to 100 G Ethernet at the Enterprise Data Center”, by Benner et al, in IEEE Applications & Practice, November 2007, pages 10-17;
an article entitled “Delivering on the 100 GbE Promise”, by Cvijetic et al, in IEEE Applications & Practice, December 2007, pages 2-3; and
an article entitled “100 GbE—Optical LAN Technologies”, by Cole et al, in IEEE Applications & Practice, December 2007, pages 12-19.